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Fauna (mythology)
Fauna is a Roman rustic goddess said in differing ancient sources to be the wife, sister, or daughter of Faunus (the Roman counterpart of Pan). Varro regarded her as the female counterpart of Faunus, and said that the ''fauni'' all had prophetic powers. She is also called Fatua or Fenta Fauna. Name Etymology The name ''Fauna'' is a feminine form of Latin ''Faunus'', the deity of the countryside. ''Faunus'' itself is generally thought to stem from Proto-Italic ''*fawe'' or ''*fawono'', ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ''*bʰh₂u-n'' ('favourable'). Consequently, Georges Dumézil translated her name as "the Favourable." In his conceptual approach to Roman deity, Michael Lipka sees Faunus and Fauna as an example of a characteristically Roman tendency to form gender-complementary pairs within a sphere of functionality. The male-female figures never have equal prominence, and one partner (not always the female) seems to have been modelled on the other. An Oscan dedication nami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period. Roman mythology draws from the mythology of the Italic peoples and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mythology. Roman mythology also draws directly on Greek mythology, potentially as early as Rome's protohistory, but primarily during the Hellenistic period of Greek influence and through the Roman conquest of Greece, via the artistic imitation of Greek literary models by Roman authors. The Romans identified their own gods with those of the ancient Greeks—who were closely historically related in some cases, such as Zeus and Jupiter—and reinterpreted myths about Greek deities under the names of their Roman counterparts. Greek and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latins (Italic Tribe)
The Latins (Latin: ''Latini''), sometimes known as the Latians, were an Italic tribe which included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome (see Roman people). From about 1000 BC, the Latins inhabited the small region known to the Romans as Old Latium (in Latin ''Latium vetus''), that is, the area between the river Tiber and the promontory of Mount Circeo southeast of Rome. Following the Roman expansion, the Latins spread into the Latium adiectum, inhabited by Osco-Umbrian peoples. Their language, Latin, belonged to the Italic branch of Indo-European. Speakers of Italic languages are assumed to have migrated into the Italian Peninsula during the late Bronze Age (1200–900 BC). The material culture of the Latins, known as the Latial culture, was a distinctive subset of the proto-Villanovan culture that appeared in parts of the Italian peninsula in the first half of the 12th century BC. The Latins maintained close culturo-religious relations until they were definitiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maia (mythology)
Maia (; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, ; la, Maia), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus. Family Maia is the daughter of Atlas and Pleione the Oceanid,Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 938 and is the oldest of the seven Pleiades.Apollodorus3.10.1/ref> They were born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, and are sometimes called mountain nymphs, ''oreads''; Simonides of Ceos sang of "mountain Maia" ''(Maiados oureias)'' "of the lovely black eyes." Because they were daughters of Atlas, they were also called the Atlantides. Mythology Birth of Hermes According to the Homeric ''Hymn to Hermes'', Zeus, in the dead of night, secretly made love to Maia, who avoided the company of the gods, in a cave of Cyllene. She became pregnant with Hermes. After giving birth to the baby, Maia wrapped him in blankets and went to sleep. The rapidly maturing infant Hermes crawled away ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bona Dea
Bona Dea (; 'Good Goddess') was a List of Roman deities, goddess in Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility in Women in ancient Rome, Roman women, healing, and the protection of the SPQR, state and people of Rome. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle Roman Republic, Republic, and was given her own Religion in ancient Rome#History of Roman religion, state cult on the Aventine Hill. Her rites allowed women the use of strong wine and blood-sacrifice, things otherwise forbidden them by Mos maiorum, Roman tradition. Men were barred from her Greco-Roman mysteries, mysteries and the possession of her true name. Given that male authors had limited knowledge of her rites and attributes, ancient speculations about her identity abound, among them that she was an aspect of Terra (mythology), Terra, Ops, Cybele, or Ceres (mythology), Ceres, or a Latins (Italic trib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glossary Of Ancient Roman Religion
The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on later juridical and religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly of the Western Church. This glossary provides explanations of concepts as they were expressed in Latin pertaining to religious practices and beliefs, with links to articles on major topics such as priesthoods, forms of divination, and rituals. For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities. For public religious holidays, see Roman festivals. For temples see the List of Ancient Roman temples. Individual landmarks of religious topography in ancient Rome are not included in this list; see Roman temple. __NOTOC__ Glossary A abominari The verb ''abominari'' ("to avert an omen", from ''ab-'', "away, off," and ''ominari'', "to pronounce on an ome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
College Of Pontiffs
The College of Pontiffs ( la, Collegium Pontificum; see ''collegium'') was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the state religion. The college consisted of the '' pontifex maximus'' and the other ''pontifices'', the '' rex sacrorum'', the fifteen ''flamens'', and the Vestals. The College of Pontiffs was one of the four major priestly colleges; originally their responsibility was limited to supervising both public and private sacrifices, but as time passed their responsibilities increased. The other colleges were the ''augures'' (who read omens), the ''quindecimviri sacris faciundis '' ("fifteen men who carry out the rites"), and the ''epulones'' (who set up feasts at festivals). The title ''pontifex'' comes from the Latin for "bridge builder", a possible allusion to a very early role in placating the gods and spirits associated with the Tiber River, for instance. Also, Varro cites this position as meaning "able to do". The ''pontife ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and Latin literature designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each left-hand page, and a fairly literal translation on the facing page. The General Editor is Jeffrey Henderson, holder of the William Goodwin Aurelio Professorship of Greek Language and Literature at Boston University. History The Loeb Classical Library was conceived and initially funded by the Jewish-German-American banker and philanthropist James Loeb (1867–1933). The first volumes were edited by Thomas Ethelbert Page, W. H. D. Rouse, and Edward Capps, and published by William Heinemann, Ltd. (London) in 1912, already in their distinctive green (for Greek text) and red (for Latin) hardcover bin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrobius
Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was as widespread as Greek among the elite. He is primarily known for his writings, which include the widely copied and read ''Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis'' ("Commentary on the Dream of Scipio") about ''Somnium Scipionis'', which was one of the most important sources for Neoplatonism in the Latin West during the Middle Ages; the ''Saturnalia'', a compendium of ancient Roman religious and antiquarian lore; and ''De differentiis et societatibus graeci latinique verbi'' ("On the Differences and Similarities of the Greek and Latin Verb"), which is now lost. He is the basis for the protagonist Manlius in Iain Pears' book '' The Dream of Scipio''. Name The correct order of his names is "Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius", which is how it appears ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Justin (historian)
Justin ( la, Marcus Junianus Justinus Frontinus; century) was a Latin writer who lived under the Roman Empire. Life Almost nothing is known of Justin's personal history, his name appearing only in the title of his work. He must have lived after Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus, whose work he excerpted, and his references to the Romans and Parthians' having divided the world between themselves would have been anachronistic after the rise of the Sassanians in the third century. His Latin appears to be consistent with the style of the second century. Ronald Syme, however, argues for a date around AD 390, immediately before the compilation of the Augustan History, and dismisses anachronisms and the archaic style as unimportant, as he asserts readers would have understood Justin's phrasing to represent Trogus' time, and not his own. Works Justin was the author of an epitome of Trogus' expansive ''Liber Historiarum Philippicarum'', or ''Philippic Histories'', a history of the kings of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gavius Bassus
The gens Gavia, or occasionally Gabia, was a Roman family of plebeian descent. It first appears in history during the first century BC, but none of its members obtained any of the curule magistracies until imperial times. The Gavi Arch at Verona was built in honor of one of the Gavii. Origin As a nomen, ''Gavius'' is a patronymic surname, derived from the praenomen ''Gavius''. In historical times, this praenomen was used by the Oscan-speaking peoples of central and southern Italy, suggesting that the Gavii were originally of Sabine or Samnite origin; one of the most famous persons with this praenomen was Gavius Pontius, a Samnite general during the Second Samnite War. But as with other patronymic surnames, there may originally have been several unrelated families bearing the same nomen, and some of these could also have been of Latin origin; ''Gavius'' is thought to be the original form of ''Gaius'', one of the most common praenomina in every period of Roman history. Tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lactantius
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most important work is the ''Institutiones Divinae'' ("The Divine Institutes"), an apologetic treatise intended to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity to pagan critics. He is best known for his apologetic works, widely read during the Renaissance by humanists, who called Lactantius the "Christian Cicero". Also often attributed to Lactantius is the poem '' The Phoenix'', which is based on the myth of the phoenix from Egypt and Arabia. Though the poem is not clearly Christian in its motifs, modern scholars have found some literary evidence in the text to suggest the author had a Christian interpretation of the eastern myth as a symbol of resurrection. Biography Lactantius was of Punic or Berber origin, born in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome, Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas' wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a character in the ''Iliad''. Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas' wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Ancient Rome, Rome and his description as a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous ''pietas'', and fashioned th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
